A Knight For A Day

Imagine unearthing an ancient ring which could magically transport you to the time period when it was lost…

- Jason Sandy

When you wear it, the ring becomes an extraordinary portal to the past! Well, two years ago, I found just such an artefact, which took me on an epic journey through medieval England.

While mudlarking at low-tide on the exposed foreshore of the River Thames in Central London, I spotted the edge of something glistening like gold from amongst the muddy gravel. As my heart pumped with excitement and curiosity, I carefully extracted the shiny object from the dark, dense mud. Disappointingly, it wasn’t real gold, but it turned out to be something much more historically precious than that longed for metal.

Scratching my head, I couldn’t quite figure out what the object was. The shape was very unusual, something I had never seen before (Fig.1). It was formed of decorated sheet brass with two holes on the sides and a large projecting spike on the top. I showed the mystery object to two veteran mudlarks who were with me on the foreshore, but they couldn’t figure out what it was either. After a gentle clean at home, I began trawling the Internet, looking for something similar in shape. The nearest match I could find was a medieval spur, but the sheet brass seemed far too thin for this function.

Before going to bed, I posted a photo of the unusual object on Facebook. When I awoke the next morning, I had received a message from a historical re-enactor who told me that it is a knuckle guard called a ‘gadling’ from a medieval knight’s gauntlet. On Facebook, he posted several photos of such knights’ gauntlets with knuckle guards almost identical to mine. I was absolutely blown away – just think, the last person to wear this ‘knuckle duster’ was a genuine medieval knight! Racing to the drawer where I had placed the artefact, I euphorically placed it on the top of my own knuckle (Fig.2). It was a perfect fit!